Many modern wireless devices, such as smart phones, are capable of running software programs that are commonly referred to as applications. These applications may be preloaded onto a wireless device or may be installed via application stores that execute on the device or from a personal computer. Applications may include web browsing applications, social networking applications, audio/video streaming applications, messaging applications, or any other type of application that can function on a wireless device. During their execution, applications may have access to various elements of a wireless device in order to carry out the functionality of the application.
In particular, some applications will have access to location information about the wireless device on which they are executing. For example, an application may be able to access a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver for the wireless device in order to obtain GPS coordinates. The application can then use this information as part of its functionality either locally on the wireless device or by transferring the location information over a wireless network to a remote system.
The wireless network over which the location information is transferred may have the capability to recognize the location information as the location information passes through the wireless network. The wireless network does so by recognizing an indicator, such as a location signature, within the communications transmitted from connected wireless devices that denotes location information is contained therein. Each application that transfers location information may do so using a different location signature. If the wireless network does not know the location signature for an application, then the location information may pass through the wireless network undetected. The fast rate in which new applications are released for wireless devices increases the likelihood that the wireless network will not recognize location information from a new application that uses an unknown location signature.